On the 11th of March, several members of Feltmakers Ireland went to the Newmarket Town Hall in Co Kildare to participate in Wool – The Legacy of St Brigid. The event was organised by Deirdre Lane of Shamrock Spring, with assistance from the AONTAS Adult Learners Festival.
The Irish Wool Book
Member, Annika Berglund, showed felted samples of Irish-grown wool, which will be featured in the upcoming book, Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking. The book covers the best Irish wool breeds for feltmaking. Includes sections on sourcing, preparing, and dyeing wool at home using simple ingredients.
Annika with the book’s felted samples and Fiona and Deirdre demonstrating feltmaking
Additionally, Annika was part of the afternoon speakers’ panel at Wool: Legacy of St Brigid.
Further members’ contributions came from Feltmakers Ireland members Fiona Leech and Deirdre Crofts, who demonstrated feltmaking, while Juliane Gorman demonstrated felting hats with Irish-grown wool.
Now on Video!
The Video
During the event in Newbridge, there was a professional crew filming the day’s happenings. A short excellent video of Wool: The Legacy of St Brigid can be seen at the EWE Foundation‘s European Wool Day, which was on the 9th of April. This year it happened in Serbia.
The entire day’s event of EWE can be watched HERE. Note: there are initial technical difficulties with the audio. However, our section from Newbridge, Wool: The Legacy of St Brigid, happens HERE and is EXCELLENT!
Many thanks to all who braved the rain to learn more about wool. Again, huge thanks to Deirdre Lane of Shamrock Spring for organising the event.
It was the turn of another talented Feltmakers Ireland member Hélène Dooley, to lead April’s hands-on Sunday session. Hélène is a member of the IFA’s (International Feltmaker’s Association) team of online tutors. You can find her online on Instagram as FeltZen.
Again, we were all looking forward to another practical hands-on session, FI having had the good luck to secure a venue with plenty of table space, access to hot water, etc., to accommodate our needs.
The theme of this month’s session was Surface Decoration or surface design, and the two techniques that Hélène chose to demonstrate to us were ones that she had learnt from two wonderful feltmakers, Lyda Rump of Holland and Marjolien Dalinga of Bloomfelt, who came to run a workshop on the invitation of FI some years ago.
Hélène had very kindly created packs for everyone and handed out at least 25 of them, so we had a full house of eager feltmakers, both beginners and some more seasoned makers. Hélène also made lots of lovely samples and finished projects of the techniques, which she shared with us.
We started off with a show and tell by Hélène, who explained what was in store for us.
An AMAZING owl created by Hélène.Photos by Clodagh Mac Donagh
The Cracked Mud Technique
The first technique was one called Cracked Mud.
The joy of creating in a group means there are many different suggestions from everyone on what materials to use: in this case, there were ideas on the narrow resists to place between the layers of wool. Hélène provided a plastic bag for everyone to cut up, but other suggestions to use were low tack masking tape or narrow pieces of ribbon. The main principle is that the resists should be long enough to protrude beyond the main body of the piece so that you can pull them out easily afterwards.
Personally, I really enjoyed this Cracked Mud technique, having tried it before with disappointing results. The difference was that I had used homemade prefelts in my previous attempts, and the results were very furry and uneven when I cut around them. In contrast, Hélène had used commercial prefelts in her packs, and the result was a much more pleasing, graphic result with a clean look and strong shapes against a strongly contrasting background.
Cracked Mud Samples were created during the Sunday Session. Photos courtesy of Hélène.
The Geode Technique
Hélène showed us finished pieces using The Geode Technique
Technique no 2 is called The Geode Technique. I have also seen this referred to as The Felt Carving technique. This technique was taught to FI participants by Marjolien Dalinga of Bloomfelt. This method involves creating ridges (or pleats) in the thick felt surface (made of six layers or so of homemade prefelts) and stitching a line of tacking at the base of the ridge to help the layers to fuse together when felting. Then comes the ‘carving’; using sharp scissors, you make cuts into the top of the ridge, revealing the different coloured stripes to create the Geode effect.
The important thing is to use a strong thread at the base of the ridge (fold) so that it can easily be removed afterwards. Suggestions for the thread went from commercial spools of nylon thread to fish gut or dental floss.
The very enterprising Elizabeth, sitting next to me, gave me some plastic baling twine, which she had brought from her home on the farm in Westmeath, as that was what she had at hand. It’s also a very good alternative as it’s possible to unravel this twine and use a single strand of it for sewing…ingenious!!
FELTED GEODE SAMPLES WERE CREATED DURING THE SUNDAY SESSION. PHOTOS COURTESY OF HÉLÈNE.
It was great to take a walk around the room, looking at everyone’s work at the end and seeing all the different approaches. There is always so much to learn from looking at everyone’s individual creations.
Needless to say, we were kept constantly fed throughout with amazing homemade goodies and hot tea and coffee by membership secretary Fiona and her catering team.
Many thanks to Hélène for her wonderful organisation and facilitation of the session and to Fiona and the committee for the lovely warm hospitality that we all received.
For the Sunday Session attendees, Hélène had very kindly created a PDF of both techniques, with great photos to illustrate them.
While we are delighted to announce that we will be giving one lucky member a whopping €250 to put towards any workshop either in person or online, from any international tutor of your choice, it is also a membership renewal reminder.
Anyone whose 2023 membership is paid up before May 1st will be eligible for the draw at the AGM on May 7th (more details about the AGM will be sent out soon)
Contact me, Fiona, your friendly membership secretary!
Thank you to all those who’ve signed up already, and good luck to everyone.
Fiona and the committee
{Work featured in the image are from left to right: tutor Nancy Ballesteros, Feltmakers Ireland member Doris Reinisch, who previously won a bursary and attended a Molly Williams course, and tutor Fiona Duthie. }
Clodagh McDonagh writes the blog about our February Sunday session. Thank you, Clodagh!
There was a great turnout on the first Sunday Session of 2023 , on 12th February, for a very busy `hands on` double session with Annika Berglund, and South African sheep and Alpaca breeder, Grant Bartholomew.
Many of you will have heard about FI’s project exploring the possibilities of sheep`s wool available to us here in Ireland. Annika is to be really commended for the hard slog that she and her wool project team has put in over the last two years studying ,learning and trialling many of the various indigenous and local sheep fleeces available here, with their particular properties, and possibilities. A book is in the works, full of useful information and practical tips, based on the wool group’s research, which will be released very shortly.
Annika had done lots of preparation for the session, she began by showing everyone some samples, pointing out the varieties of colours, tones, and textures of the different wools. All of the wool had been carefully washed, combed (carded) and weighed, and tied into 10gm bundles, with identifying labels.
Personally, I offered early on to help produce a few samples, however, easier said than done! The method of laying out the different breeds is completely different to using the very tame and biddable imported Merino wool `tops’ which leave its native Australia to be processed in China or Germany, Italy or the UK.
Annika had many tips for handling the fibre, including laying it down very finely on bubble wrap using a 20cm x 20cm paper template to help guide the process. Other tips included using a wooden dowel as a roller, using minimal water and even using liquid soap (or melted olive oil `bar` soap) on its own to help tame the rough fibres. To help speed up the process, there was a microwave on hand to heat the wool to encourage felting and even a sander too.
Annika encouraged everyone to have a go, and we were allowed to take the finished square home, or alternatively to cut them up and swap part of it with another participant. There was lots of comparing of notes between participants on their varying experiences, with plenty of ideas for future sessions.
Grant began the second part of the session by setting up his fleece sorting table, a metal framed table with an open metal gridwork top, and placed the raw sheep fleece on it to start the process of judging it to find the best parts before it was to be washed and processed.
Grant gave us a basic lesson in how to sort out the bad from the good, which bits to avoid, and even which fleeces to discard entirely if they had been badly shorn, (double cut), holding a staple length to show us, stretching it to see whether it would break, which would form lumps in the fibre if left in during the process. Some of the fleece might be discarded simply if it was too dirty or if it retained the colour of the farmers identifying marks, purple, for example, by using iodine liquid to stain the fleece. At times up to 20% might be lost on removing vegetation from the fleece, and washing can remove approximately 40% of the weight. It takes Grant approximately 20 minutes to sort each fleece, we were amazed at his speed, and many of us were shocked to see him discarding at least 30 or 40% of the whole amount.
According to Grant, the business of processing sheep and alpaca fleeces for a living can be very trying as there is a huge amount of legislation surrounding the industry, and obtaining a licence for washing fleeces commercially is practically impossible at the moment.
We will do further sessions using Irish wool when the book is published, so if you missed this session, there will be more chances to get hands-on using Irish wool.
Launch of the show: Thursday 15 December, 6pm at the Olivier Cornet Gallery.
The gallerist will be in conversation with Mary Pavlides, Chairwoman of the Contemporary Irish Art Society (CIAS).
Availability of the show: Tuesdays to Sundays at the gallery.
The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Rosemarie and Seán Mulcahy.
A slideshow featuring photos of key moments in the life of the gallery will also be viewable during the course of the exhibition.
Each work is accompanied by notes which you can read at the gallery, or here by clicking on ‘About the work’ below.
Due to popular demand, the show has been extended to run until the 22nd of February 2023 (instead of the 15th of February as announced initially).
The Olivier Cornet Gallery is delighted to present this anniversary exhibition
This year the Olivier Cornet Gallery celebrated 10 years in business. From its first gallery space in the Wooden Building in Temple Bar, through a tenure at 5 Cavendish Row, to its current location at 3 Great Denmark Street, the gallery has had the pleasure of hosting many solo and thematic art exhibitions. Its anniversary group show, ‘2012 – 2022, a decade of exhibitions at the Olivier Cornet Gallery’, will feature a selection of works by our currently represented artists and members of our AGA group. The show will also include work by two artists who have passed, namely the painter Seán Mulcahy (1926-2018) and the ceramicist Freda Rupp (1946-2019).
The exhibition proposes to show works that have marked important milestones in the life of the gallery and/or the career of the artists. Some stand out group exhibitions, referenced in the show, would include ‘A Terrible Beauty’ (2014), ‘Hopscotch’ (2015), ‘2°C’ (2017), presented at the VUE Art Fairs (RHA Dublin) – and our annual Bloomsday exhibitions. Sometimes described as ‘intriguing’ or ‘innovative’, these exhibitions have often challenged our perception of contemporary art in Ireland.
Featuring works from solo exhibitions by established artists such as Claire Halpin, Eoin Mac Lochlainn, Miriam McConnon and Yanny Petters, ‘2012-2022…’ will also reflect on the ways in which art can help us ask relevant questions, meditate on the state of affairs in the current epoch, empathize with -and relate to- each other and negotiate our way forward in these challenging times.
For this exhibition, the gallerist has invited his two current interns, namely Mary Rose Porter and Lisa Brero, to assist him in curating and documenting the works: Each piece indeed will be accompanied by a text -accessible through QR codes- providing some background information about the work.
Through this exhibition, visitors will also be able to see the many collaborations* the gallery has pursued over the years: guest speakers for the vernissages, guest co-curators, special collaborations such as the one with the art historian and story teller Jean Ryan, the many interventions from the world of the words: poets and organisations such as Fighting Words for instance, and the world of music through our events for Culture Night.
For the launch the gallery has invited Mary Pavlides, chairwoman of the Contemporary Irish Art Society, who will chat with Olivier about the OCG’s first decade and the works he chose for this exhibition. The exhibition will launch on the 15th of December 2022 and run until the 22nd of February 2023.
The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Rosemarie and Seán Mulcahy.
And just for your information, here are the news from Showcase in the DCCI GANS newsletter:
I hope this newsletter finds you well. January was a busy month with Showcase – Ireland’s International Creative Expo® returning to the RDS, Dublin on Sunday 22nd to Tuesday 24th of January. Showcase offered 385 exhibitors an opportunity to exhibit their collections to approx 4000 visitors from 27 countries.
We were delighted to see the much anticipated Showcase Awards taking place on the opening day of the fair. We were excited to see that the winner of the overall best product award was metal artist, Tom King from An Gobha, whose iron cross was created in celebration of St. Brigid.
The St. Brigid’s Cross was created as a work of metal art based around the traditional cross, with depth and with colour, to mark Ireland’s new national holiday celebrating the country’s first female patron St. Brigid.
Other crafts people at Showcase celebrating St. Brigid’s were Patricia O’Flaherty, Naomh Padraig Handcrafts, from Roscommon, you can see her beautiful St. Brigid’s rush work crosses on www.naomhpadraighandcrafts.com. Jennifer Rothwell Designs also had a beautiful collection of fashion items inspired by St. Brigid www.jenniferrothwell.com
As the first Irish public holiday named after a woman, St. Brigid’s Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate the role that women have played in Irish history, culture, creativity and society.
The Design & Crafts Council Ireland Academy (DCCIA) was launched as part of the Talk Stage programme at Showcase. DCCIA is an international specialised academy for education and training to the craft sector and will offer a series of apprenticeships. DCCIA welcomes everyone from design and craft beginners to established professionals. The launch was delivered by MaryJo Hoyne, Head of Craft & Education at DCCI and Maria Couchman, Senior Craft & Education Manager at DCCI. www.dcci.ie/academy
Showcase 2023 saw a continuation of the popular Talks Stage that hosted a variety of industry talks and expert panel discussions, you can view some of the events that took place over the three days of Showcase here.
The Dancehall (Fashion & Design) – was a new and exciting fusion of Showcase fashion and design with music and dance. To view the performance of The Dancehall event from the opening day of Showcase 2023 click here.
A big thanks, especially to Clare Brophy, who had a special treat in store for us for at this December’s Sunday Session, with Romanian felt artist Carmen Draghici, and her lovely daughter Corinna. You can find samples of her work online at FELT JOY. She has an Etsy shop. She was only able to bring 2 beautiful pieces with her, due to Ryanair’s weight restrictions.
Clare had discovered Carmen’s fabulous felt work online, purchased a piece, and was bowled over by the quality and design of the jacket that she had bought. She invited Carmen to come to Ireland from Constanza, southern Romania, to lead a Sunday Session with us.
Carmen, luckily, was very happy to come to Ireland to meet all of us. Although Hungary has a very rich Feltmaking tradition, its neighbour Romania does not, as yet anyway, and she was delighted to be in the company of other feltmakers. She envied us our regular opportunities to felt together, and is going to investigate if she can bring us to Romania next year!
Carmen had planned a project with us, wet-felting a small Christmas Cushion, using some special lace brought with her from Romania. However, as 4 of the group were new feltmakers, it proved too ambitious for the 2 hours. She suggested finishing it at home or turning it into a table runner instead. There was much to learn from Carmen, an engineer by profession, from laying viscose fibre down cleanly to achieve sharp shapes, to using different unfamiliar fibre layouts, like herringbone, and diagonal, depending on what you were making, and using, for the most part just one layer of fine merino tops. It was also new to some people to to have an upside-down layout, and use a resist.
Personally speaking, I would love to have her back again to learn more of her tips and knowledge as she seemed to be a mine of information as well as having a great personality and we did not have enough time with her. She herself was frustrated by the short time involved and the differing levels of experience within this group, and wanted especially to give the new people good standards of finish.
I arrived at the Sunday Session with my friend Nara Fritch, from Seattle, US, but now long time resident in Ireland, living near me in Skerries. Nara keeps Alpacas and was totally entranced by an invited guest of Committee member, Annike Berglund, leader of the Feltmakers Ireland Wool Project Her Guest, Grant Bartholomew had requested to be an observer at the Sunday Session. Grant is an Alpaca farmer, from South Africa and living in Ireland for 3 years. He arrived with his family. After our session with Carmen, he briefly explained the different types of Alpaca fibre he had brought with him.
by Clodagh McDonagh
The committee has decided to devote another Sunday session later to the picking and washing of a raw fleece and give everybody a chance to felt a small sample using one of a variety of Irish local wools.
Carmen Draghici, coming specially from Constanza in southern Romania for the weekend. Her work can be viewed online at FELT JOY and on Facebook & You Tube. She has an ETSY shop and she will bring some of her work to show us.
She will demonstrate some of her unique skills, making a small Christmas Cushion (as time is so limited )
It will be practical session. Some kits may be available to purchase (€4) for those who have materials (old towel, soap, bubble wrap etc) needed to felt with Carmen.
Materials needed: (exactly as last session)
Old towel, bubble wrap, resist, soap, and water bottle, needed.
70 grams red roving, embellishments (including, if you have any, old lace or finest crochet)
All members are welcome.
Tea coffee and Xmas goodies for all!
(Non-members also welcome €10)
Some Information on what you need to bring and what you will learn:
Also: A call out to people who were at the last Sunday session: If you have not unpacked your bags from this event yet, please check if you have ended up with an extra piece by mistake: It is a long brownish piece with an abstract design.
Sunday Session November 6th 2022 in the CIE Social Club Inchicore!
On Sunday 6th November Feltmakers Ireland Committee and 25 members took part in a `hands-on` practical Feltmaking session. There was great excitement, as a Nationwide film team was coming to film our efforts and interview some key members of our Feltmakers Ireland community.
The session was led by Tamzen Lundy, a former Committee member. She had designed a really charming Christmas project for us, a felted Nordic style Santa Claus in 3D. You can use the Santa Claus as a tree decoration, as a bottle topper, or as a stand alone ornament.
Feltmaking is a craft that allows you to easily produce items in 3D without any sewing at all. The committee had prepared a kit bag for each participant, containing all we required for this session.
Tamzen then took us all very clearly through the process, which involved laying merino wool in 3 alternate layers on a triangular shaped resist.
For Santa’s face, Tamzen showed us 2 ways of making and attaching a felt nose,(a felt bead, cut in two) by fluffing it up with a wire (or pet) brush, then had an ingenious method of using a small piece of prefelt (sometimes called Needlepunch) to create the face, and then cutting a teeny hole in the prefelt to reveal the nose. Later we would use needle felting to add eyes and beard.
The main learning points I took from Tamzen`s were:
To use no soap in your wetting down process, (and generally very little soap overall) a bit controversial for me as soap tends to be my `comfort blanket`.
No rolling, (not a roller in sight! ), use bubblewrap as a rubbing tool , and generally keep on rubbing, and massaging with your bare hands, or bubblewrap, on the surface of your piece until any sign of `cellulite` is gone! (Of course that meant that a big discussion on what cellulite was, ensued!)
At the end of the very happy and enjoyable session, it was really interesting how all the Santas looked very individual, taking on their own personalities!
While we participants were concentrating on our project, RTE`S Nationwide crew were filming a wonderful and varied display of members’ work at the end of the room. They interviewed Deirdre Crofts from our Committee, who spoke of the different pieces on display and explained the different felting skills.
Founding member of Feltmakers Ireland, Elizabeth Bonnar was interviewed about our Guild’s history in Ireland. Also interviewed was Astrid Tomrop-Hofman another important person who helped bring felt making to Ireland.
Our current research project on Irish breeds of sheep and their fleeces, was explained to Nationwide interviewer Zainab, by the leader of the research group, our Treasurer, Annika Berglund. The group hopes to publish a book in the near future with their findings.
Fiona Leech and Deirdre Croft told of our monthly Sunday Sessions, and of our Annual Art Felt Exhibition.
Zainab, interviewer, had her first go at Feltmaking!
For me, a member for many years, and formerly on committee, it was lovely to see old felting friends, like Helene Dooley, who has been working with the IFA , (the International Feltmakers Association, with which we are affiliated .)
Session leader, Tamzen, was interviewed, as she has turned her feltimaking into a successful business, and has an Etsy shop, Tamzenlundydesigns.
A very big thank you to Breda Fay, our Guild Chairperson, who was the person RTE contacted, and who made the film crew so welcome. Thanks to Lorna Cady, Committee member, who secured our venue, and to all our Committee members who baked tasty goodies, and made tea and coffee for us all, and made us all so welcome.
Clodagh Mac Donagh.
EXHIBITIONS
Our Feltmakers Ireland Annual Exhibition will open on Dec3rd in the Ashtown visitor Centre, in the Phoenix Park and will run for the whole of December
From 12th November until 23rd of December, Tamzen Lundy has an exhibition of her work at the Newbridge Arts Theatre Centre, Riverbank, Co. Kildare.
NEXT SUNDAY SESSION
venue: CIE sports hall, Inchicore
time : 10.15-12.30
Leader: Carmen Draghici, coming specially from Constanza in southern Romania for the weekend. Her work can be viewed online at FELT JOY and on Facebook & You Tube. She has an ETSY shop and she will bring some of her work to show us.
She will demonstrate some of her unique skills, making a small Christmas Cushion (as time is so limited )
It will be practical session. Some kits may be available to purchase (€4) for those who have materials (old towel, soap, bubble wrap etc) needed to felt with Carmen.
Materials needed: (exactly as last session)
Old towel, bubble wrap, resist, soap, and water bottle, needed.
70 grams red roving, embellishments (including, if you have any, old lace or finest crochet)
Feltmakers Ireland 